Ms. Sage - I doubt that you have ever been where the blacks and skeeters are so thick you inhale them and anything that flies injects poison.

Wall Street Journal - Opinion - Letters to the Editor - p.A15, Monday, June 27, 2005

Black Flies, Buzzin' 'Round My Head

The annual attack of biting flies started this year in my part of Indiana right on schedule on June 2. Hoosiers call them deer flies, and they look like little brown stealth bombers, but otherwise they have all the characteristics of the black flies of your article ("You Don't Bother Me, Black Fly, Say Fans of "Jaws on Wings'," page one, June 9).

I've done considerable research on how to control these flies but have come up empty-handed except for one innovative approach developed by a clever guy in Michigan. He determined that these flies sense moving objects and usually attack the high, backside of the victim. Based on this inteligence, he came up with a patch that is sticky on both sides and is placed on the back of a cap. Flies attack the cap and stick to the parch. On my 220 yard morning walk to get the Journal at my mailbox, the patch collects 20 to 40 flies that otherwise would be after me and my dogs. It doesn't solve the problem but every bit helps.

Thomas B. Tucker
Terre Haute, Ind.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle